just a note.

originally the train in the song was coming from rhodesia and the train was coming to bring freedom to the laborers. it was very much a song of black laborers, include those laying the railroads. i learned it when i was working dragging nets to catch fish.

in many recent versions of the song, rhodesia is replaced with south africa and the song has been co-opted by the entitled set proud of their self-proclaimed valiant efforts. for example, the south african entry into the world cup is "team shosholoza," and the song is their team song.